I see so many QR Codes around and more on business cards. At the recent New York XPO someone gave me their business card with a QR Code on it – we realized that it was really just eye candy, it was not (for me) practical to scan the card as I would just enter it into some system (or lose it) when I got home.

Having said that, I’m impressed with AT&T’s evolution of their Mobile Barcode Services which offers a backend tool for putting QR and other bar codes to work.

Beyond just creating a QR code and going to a web site, AT&T’s system enables businesses to offer feature rich interactivity and back end analysis to QR code campaigns. Their press release reads:

Small businesses can use customized, pre-made templates within the Platform to easily create mobile-optimized web landing pages, which appear on-screen when consumers scan a barcode. Having a mobile-friendly site has helped boost site traffic for many businesses — 48% of the respondents in the AT&T Mobile Marketing Survey point to an increase of 10% to 25% in traffic, while 14% have increased traffic 26% to 50%.

After creating mobile barcodes, small businesses can use the Platform’s powerful reporting tools to gauge the effectiveness of any given mobile marketing campaign. And if users grant permission, businesses can receive demographic and location data from the users’ scans.

The flexible AT&T Code Management Platform also allows companies to keep content fresh by changing the results of scanning a barcode without replacing the physical codes.